U.S. postal workers have salvaged several hundred thousand pieces of mail from this semitrailer that was submerged.

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The story begins when a semitrailer carrying U.S. mail plunged into the rain-swollen Prairie Creek near Des Moines on May 30. The three law enforcement officers who rescued 70-year-old driver Dwayne Michael of Granger from the flooded cab were lauded statewide for their heroism.

But there are other heroes in this story, said Jeanine Strodtman. The Ames resident received a water-damaged piece of mail from her grandson in early June, one of several hundred thousand that were ...